Shaking and conveying machine



July 31, 1945. R. NEWTON 2,380,910

SHAKING AND CONVEYING MACHINE Filed Feb. 6, 1942 47-7 57" INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented .lul 31, 1945 'Yraweuamwten. 1 dlstrlaifatents r s H to Inas'afi m. -eorporatlon of Delaware 1 V I Application Februn-y {Rig-Serial no. 420,106

scuums (cl. resros This invention a machine for compactinea material in a container, and more particularly provides a mechanism foriarrina air bubbieamit o! a viseousmaterial placed within a It is invention to provide a meansior-piacing a viscous materialin a slam container'in amore attractive-mannerby jarring theeontsine'rto drive the'airbubbies 'away from thewalloi'th'eoontainer.=i It ther object of this invention to vide a means ror jarring the air out of the viscous material in -a containerwhile simultaneously convqiri thecontainerlenl'thwiseoftheiarrinzltisanotherobiectofthisinventionto'lnywide a conveying apparatus tor-materials which must becompactedwithinacontainer. V

Otherobiechwiilappearfromthedescription sivenbelow.

struction, a canvas sheet I! aiiixed to the iloor.

l'isurelisasectlonalsideelevationshowina;

the ementlalieiements of this invention.

l'ialneflisaplanviewotthearransement of conveyor system and shaking mechanism in b cteria materials such .as peanut butter and ieily in siass containers, air bubbles are quite I frequently entrained with the material. Such bubblesmayfonn'asainstthegiasswallanda non-uniform and unattractive packaging thereof 'resuitswhichmayleadthecustomertotheconchisionthatthepackaaeisnot completely full.

Toavoidtbesediiiicultiesinthewt'ithas beenthepractieetomanually iarthecontainer severaltimesasainstahardsuriacetocausethe viscommaterialtoiiowasalnstthewalloithe container-to d aplac'eiany' air from the pockets whichma'y be present. The material may be compactedtoacertainextentthusdrivinathe entrained airrupwardly-as the material settles' into the container and in any eyentnwhen the container is 'mwiately the air bubbles aredrivenin y'astheniater'ialtakesaposktionaroundtheslasswaiisothatuponinspectina the package. no v'oidsare visible.

Thepruentinventionwasmadeto obviateths necessity of manually iarrins' the containers and provides means ior simultaneously vibratin: the containers while eonveyins them into proper position for the subsequent 'ca'p'pins operation.

As shown inlilures l and 2, the containers ll, iilled with amaterialwhich may require compectin, are delivered by a conveyor -II to the inclined chate u. Theconveyor ii has luss it forensllinebehindthecontainers lltoforce them onto the chute II, and asshownin the inlet end oi the. chute I! is provided with suitable notches it through which the lure It may pass as conveyor. I i travels around the bearing II. The conveyor. it may be driven in any suitable means lhechuteitisinciinedasindicatedinl 'isure'l and may be provided with any suitable surface which have very little friction with the bottom of the container. In the preferred conoi' the chute by a rubber adhesive, has been found most effective to provide the proper frictional surface and to eliminate undue noise. If a canvassuri'aceisusedthecanvasmayextendfreely as at It past the lower end of chute it onto a" conveyor for a purpose that appear below. j

The floor of chute I2 is mounted on standards I. in. a manner whereby it maybe vibrated, and, as here shown, the standards II-carry pins ii on their upper ends over which apertures in ears I! are loosely positioned. The cars 22 are intesral with chute II sothat the chute may be vibrated yet pins 2i constrain the chute to its proper operative position.

The floor "has a vibrator II fixedly secured to the underside thereof whereby the chute may be vibrated and impulses perpendicular to the plane oi the iioor are given the chute to accomplish the desired results. Thefeed chutealso hasrailsfloneachsidetoconnnethecontainers to the chute as isseen in Figure 2.

The lower end of the feed chute delivers onto an endless conveyor for carrying the containers to a capping mechanism and this lower end is beveled to have a sharp angle 28 which cooperates withthe free end portion "of the can- Yes to deliver the containers onto the conveyor relatively smoothfashion. Thefree end canvas should overlay the conveyor 2' short'distance and preferably this disis less than the least dimension or thebottom of the container. The canvas is, of course. with the chute and 'the containerstend, work oi! its free end onto the conveyor lulled merely by this action alone. However, if the chute is full oifccntainers, the pressure or those banked up behind will push all of the containers onto the conveyor 2|. Conveyor II is carried by suitable means rotatably supported in bearings 21 and should 'be driven at a speed slow enough to cause the containers to bunch upat the end oi the chute it, yet last enough to insure that the full capacity of the chute is utilised.

The vibrator ll is positioned .to drive the floor Figure 2.

I! as above stated is eifect the compacting or the' viscous material in the container and the sharp blow given the container, acting against the inertia of the viscous material, causes it to take the form of the container thus driving the air bubbles into the mass of the material. In this manner, a much neater package is produced wherein all of the air bubbles are removed from the surface of the glass container and the compaction of the material is obtained by a multi tude of sharp blows as distinguished from one or two heavy manual blows such as is now done to obtain the same results, thus minimizing the chances of breakage. Any well known vibrator mechanism may be used but it is preferred that an electromagnetic device working against the inertia of the armature of an electromagnet be used. With such a device, the amplitude and frequency of the vibrations may be controlled, and this type of mechanism is readily available on the market in many forms.

Chute 12 being inclined, as the containers are agitated on its surface, they will move downwardly as indicated in Figure 1.- While the containers would move downwardly over most any surface on the inclined chute II, this surface is generally designed to have a minimum of friction so that there will be no tendency to tip over the containers which in some cases are relatively top heavy. The loose fitting connection between the apertures in ears 22 and pins 2| permit the chute l2 to be vibrated to the desired extent, and the amount of energy expended upon the vibrating chute depends upon the viscosity of the material and the shape and size of the container. The chute l2 may be braced on its underside in any manner required to support the weight of the containers flowing down its upper surface.

The chute I2 is designed to deliver containers from the conveyor II to the slower moving conveyor 2B, and the containers pile up at the lower end of the chute l2 before moving onto the latter conveyor. The containers dancing down the upper surface of the chute bunch-up as shown in Figure 2 and the containers generally move onto the conveyor 26 in a fixed pattern as shown in Figure 2, so that any required operation can be performed. In some instances, a haphazard arrangement results, but it is readily apparent that any number of well known means could be associated with conveyor 28 to cause containers so de- J posited to be taken therefrom in an orderly manner.

The conveyor 28 must have a capacity equal to that of conveyor H otherwise the containers would back up to the inlet of chute l2, thus slowing up the operation of this machine by requiring a shutting down of the conveyor ll until the sur- Plus could be carried away by conveyor 26. In order to obtain the piling up which knocks the containers into the flxed pattern, the containers are Jiggled down the inclined chute at a faster rate than conveyor ll supplies them and the containers bump themselves into proper alignment to fill the chute between the rails. It is this action that causes the containers to assume the desired pattern of Figure 2 and conveyor 26 merely removes the rows of containers which have been worked into proper position by the vibration of the chute. From the description given above it is seen that the filled containers delivered from the filling machine are placed upon the upper end of chute I! by conveyor II. The vibrator 23 energizes the chute II to cause the material to becompacted and thus to squeeze out the air bubbles or to cause theviscousmaterlaltoflowall-instfli'ewallofthe container. Whil' compacting the viscous material, the motion of chute I! also causes the contalners to be conveyed downwardly to subsequently issue onto the conveyor 28. The inclination of the chute, the magnitude of th'e vibrating or iarring motions. and the frictional surface of the chute II are selected by choice to insure that sufllcient energy will be imparted to the container to cause the material to be compacted as indicated above. The rails 24 of the chute confine the containers to direct them into the rows which are delivered to conveyor It. This construction provides acompacting means and a conveyor and 1 container positioning means which can handle any size'conveyor without adjustment other than is necessary to control the vibrations imparted to the chute.

While the above is the preferred embodiment of this invention, many modifications will appear to those skilled in the art. all of which are contemplated to be within the scope of the invention as defined in the claims below. Iclalm:

- 1. .A machine for compacting a material in a container and conveying the container along its path comprising a conveyor to feed a. predetermined number of filled containers per minute, an inclined chute to receive said filled containers, 80 a canvas surface afiixed to said chute, said canvas suri'ace extending beyond the lower end of said chute, said chute having rails provided on each side thereof, means to vibrate said chute at a speed to cause the containers to move over its sur- 8 face, said chute being inclined at an angle whereby more than said predetermined number of containers will pass down its surface per minute, a conveyor means to receive the containers passing from said chute, said extending canvas surface 40 overlaying said conveyor, said conveyor being operated at a speed to continuously remove said predeterminednumber of containers per minute said chute and rails functioning to bunch the containers at the lower end of the chute whereby the containers are deposited on said conveyor means and said overlaying canvas end serving to smoothly transfer the bunched containers from the chute to the conveyor.

2. A machine for compacting a material in a container and conveying the container alon its path comprising a means to feed containers filled with the material, an inclined chute to receive said containers, a canvas surface affixed to said chute, said canvas surface extending beyond the lowerend of said chute, means to vibrate said chute, and means to receive the containers passing from said chute.

3. A machine for compacting a material in a container and conveying the container along its on path comprising an inclined chute to re:eive said containers, a flexible surfacing material affixed to said chute throughout the surface over which the containers pass, said flexible surfacing material extending beyond the lower end of the 65 chute, means to vibrate said chute, means to continuously receive containers passing from said chute and said extending end of the flexible mate rial overlaying said last named mean to receive the containers.

4. A machine for compacting a material in a container and conveying the container along its path comprising an inclined chute to receive said containers, a flexible surfacing material afllxed to said chute throughout the surface over which the container passes, said flexible surfacing mate- 2,380,910 I rial extending beyond the lower end of the chute, said chute having rails provided on each side thereof, means to vibrate said chute at a speed to cause the containers to move over its surface, a conveyor means to receive the containers passing from said chute, said extending end or the flexible material overlaying said conveyor, said conveyor being operated at a speed to remove a predetermined number of containers per minute, said chute being inclined at an angle and vibrated with such energy that more than said predetermined number of containers will pass down its surface per minute, whereby said chute and rails function to bunch the containers at the lower end of the chute whereby the containers are deposited on said conveyor means in a predetermined pattern and said extending end of flexible material serving to transfer the containers smoothly from the chute to the conveyor 5. A machine for compacting a material in a substantially cylindrical container and conveying th'e container along it path comprising means to feed containers filled with the material, an inclined chute to receive said containers in standing position, a flexible surfacing material aflixed to said chute throughout the surface over which the containers pass, said flexible surfacing material extending beyond the lower end of the chute a distance less than the diameter of the bottom of th'e individual containers, means to vibrate said chute, and driven means to receive the containers passing from said chute in standing position.

LOWELL R. NEWTON. 

